I 


STUDIES  IN 


OCCULTISM 

A  Series  of  Reprints  from  the  Writings 
of 

H.  P.  BLAVATSKY 


NO.  III. 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION 


BOSTON 

NEW  ENGLAND  THEOSOPHICAL  CORPORATION 
24  Mt.  Vernon  St. 

1895 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 

A  Series  of  Reprints  from  the  Writings 
of 

H.  P.  BLAVATSKY 


No.  I. 

Practical  Occultism. 

Occultism  Versus  the  Occult  Arts. 
The  Blessings  of  Publicity. 


No.  II. 

Hypnotism. 

Black  Magic  in  Science. 

Signs  of  the  Times. 


No.  III. 

Psychic  and  Noetic  Action. 

No.  IY. 

Kosmic  Mind. 

Dual  Aspect  of  Wisdom. 

No.  Y. 

Esoteric  Character  of  the  Gospels. 


No.  YI. 

Astral  Bodies. 

Constitution  of  the  Inner  Man. 


Nos.  I,  II,  III,  and  IV  now  ready.  Nos.  V  and  VI  are 
in  press. 


Printed  on  the  best  of  paper,  in  large  type,  and  well 
bound,  manual  size,  in  linen  cloth.  Price  35  cents  for  single 
numbers,  or  $1.50  for  the  six.  The  whole  of  H.P.B.’s  mag¬ 
azine  articles  on  Occultism  will  be  issued  in  like  manner. 

Special  Edition  for  Students,  interleaved  with  fine  writ¬ 
ing  paper  for  notes.  Edition  limited  to  100  copies.  Price 
50  cents  each,  or  $2.50  for  the  six. 


Published  by  the  N.  E.  Theosophical  Corporation, 
24  Mt.  Vernon  St.,  Boston,  Mass.,  from  whom  they  may  be 
ordered. 


CONTENTS 


Psychic  and  Noetic  Action  page  121 
From  “ Lucifer  ”,  Oct .  and  iVot?.,  1890 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION. 


“ . I  made  man  just  and  right, 

Sufficient  to  have  stood,  though  free  to  fall, 

Such  I  created  all  th’ethereal  powers 

And  spirits,  both  them  who  stood  and  them  who  fail’d, 

Truly,  they  stood  who  stood,  and  fell  who  fell.” — Milton. 

“  The  assumption  that  the  mind  is  a  real  being ,  which 
can  be  acted  upon  by  the  brain,  and  which  can  act  on  the 
body  through  the  brain,  is  the  only  one  compatible  with 
all  the  facts  of  experience.”— George  T.  Ladd,  in  the 
“  Elements  of  Physiological  Psychology” . 


I 


A  NEW  influence,  a  breath,  a  sound — 
“as  of  a  rushing  mighty  wind” — has 
suddenly  swept  over  a  few  Theosophical 
heads.  An  idea,  vague  at  first,  grew  in 
time  into  a  very  definite  form,  and  now 
seems  to  be  working  very  busily  in  the 
minds  of  some  of  our  members.  It  is  this : 
if  we  would  make  converts,  the  few  ex¬ 
occult  teachings,  which  are  destined  to  see 
the  light  of  publicity,  should  be  made, 
henceforward,  more  subservient  to ,  if  not 


122 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


entirely  at  one  with  modern  science .  It  is 
urged  that  the  so-called  esoteric*  (or  late 
esoteric)  cosmogony,  anthropology,  ethnol¬ 
ogy,  geology,  psychology  and — foremost  of 
all — metaphysics,  having  been  adapted  into 
making  obeisance  to  modern  (hence  materi¬ 
alistic)  thought,  should  never  henceforth  be 
allowed  to  contradict  (not  openly ,  at  all 
events)  “scientific  philosophy”.  The  latter, 
we  suppose,  means  the  fundamental  and  ac¬ 
cepted  views  of  the  great  German  schools, 
or  of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  and  some  other 
English  stars  of  lesser  magnitude;  and  not 
only  these,  but  also  the  deductions  that  may 
be  drawn  from  them  by  their  more  or  less 
instructed  disciples. 

A  large  undertaking  this,  truly,  and  one, 
moreover,  in  perfect  conformity  with  the 
policy  of  the  mediaeval  Casuists,  who  dis¬ 
torted  truth  and  even  suppressed  it,  if  it 
clashed  with  divine  Revelation .  Useless  to 
say  that  we  decline  the  compromise.  It  is 
quite  possible — nay,  probable  and  almost 


*  We  say  “  so-called,”  because  nothing  of  what  has  been 
given  out  publicly  or  in  print  can  any  longer  be  termed 

esoteric . 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  123 


unavoidable — that  “the  mistakes  made”  in 
the  rendering  of  such  abstruse  metaphysical 
tenets  as  those  contained  in  Eastern  Occult¬ 
ism,  should  be  “frequent  and  often  import¬ 
ant”.  But  then  all  such  have  to  be  traced 
back  to  the  interpreters,  not  to  the  system 
itself.  They  have  to  be  corrected  on  the 
authority  of  the  same  Doctrine,  checked  by 
the  teachings  grown  on  the  rich  and  steady 
soil  of  Gupta  Vidya ,  not  by  the  specula¬ 
tions  that  blossom  forth  to-day,  to  die  to¬ 
morrow — on  the  shifting  sands  of  modern 
scientific  guess-work,  especially  in  all  that 
relates  to  psychology  and  mental  phenom¬ 
ena.  Holding  to  our  motto,  “There  is  no 
religion  higher  than  truth  ”,  we  refuse  most 
decidedly  to  pander  to  physical  science. 
Yet,  we  may  say  this :  If  the  so-called  exact 
sciences  limited  their  activity  only  to  the 
physical  realm  of  nature;  if  they  concerned 
themselves  strictly  with  surgery,  chemistry 
— up  to  its  legitimate  boundaries,  and  with 
physiology — so  far  as  the  latter  relates  to 
the  structure  of  our  corporeal  frame,  then 
the  Occultists  would  be  the  first  to  seek  help 
in  modern  sciences,  however  many  their 


124 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


blunders  and  mistakes.  But  once  that  over¬ 
stepping  material  Nature  the  physiologists 
of  the  modern  “animalistic”*  school  pre¬ 
tend  to  meddle  with,  and  deliver  ex  cathedra 
dicta  on,  the  higher  functions  and  phenom¬ 
ena  of  the  mind,  saying  that  a  careful  analy¬ 
sis  brings  them  to  a  firm  conviction  that  no 
more  than  the  animal  is  man  a  free-agent , 
far  less  a  responsible  one — then  the  Occult¬ 
ist  has  a  far  greater  right  than  the  average 
modern  “Idealist”  to  protest.  And  the 
Occultist  asserts  that  no  Materialist — a  pre¬ 
judiced  and  one-sided  witness  at  best — can 
claim  any  authority  in  the  question  of  men¬ 
tal  physiology,  or  that  which  is  now  called 
by  him  the  physiology  of  the  soul .  No  such 


*  “Animalism”  is  quite  an  appropriate  word  to  use  (who¬ 
ever  invented  it)  as  a  contrast  to  Mr.  Tylor’s  term  “  anim¬ 
ism”,  which  he  applied  to  all  the  “  Lower  Races”  of 
mankind  who  believe  the  soul  a  distinct  entity.  He  finds 
that  the  words  psyche ,  pneuma,  animus ,  spiritus ,  etc.,  all 
belong  to  the  same  cycle  of  superstition  in  “  the  lower 
stages  of  culture  ”,  Professor  A.  Bain  dubbing  all  these 
distinctions,  moreover,  as  a  “  plurality  of  souls  ”  and  a 
“double materialism”.  This  is  the  more  curious  as  the 
learned  author  of  “Mind  and  Body”  speaks  as  dispar¬ 
agingly  of  Darwin’s  “  Materialism  ”  in  Zoonomia ,  wherein 
the  founder  of  modern  Evolution  defines  the  word  idea  as 
“contracting  a  motion,  or  configuration  of  the  fibres 
which  constitute  the  immediate  organ  of  Sense  ”.  ( “  Mind 
and  Body”,  p.  190,  Note.) 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  125 


noun  can  be  applied  to  the  word  “  soul  ”, 
unless,  indeed,  by  soul  only  the  lower,  psy¬ 
chic  mind  is  meant,  or  that  which  develops 
in  man  (proportionally  with  the  perfection 
of  his  brain)  into  intellect ,  and  in  the  ani¬ 
mal  into  a  higher  instinct.  But  since  the 
great  Charles  Darwin  taught  that  “our  ideas 
are  animal  motions  of  the  organ  of  sense” 
everything  becomes  possible  to  the  modern 
physiologist. 

Thus,  to  the  great  distress  of  our  scientif¬ 
ically  inclined  Fellows,  it  is  once  more 
Lucifer's  duty  to  show  how  far  we  are  at 
logger-heads  with  exact  science,  or  shall  we 
say,  how  far  the  conclusions  of  that  science 
are  drifting  away  from  truth  and  fact.  By 
“  science  ”  we  mean,  of  course,  the  major¬ 
ity  of  the  men  of  science ;  the  best  minority, 
we  are  hapy  to  say,  is  on  our  side,  at  least 
as  far  as  free-will  in  man  and  the  immateri¬ 
ality  of  the  mind  are  concerned.  The  study 
of  the  “ Physiology”  of  the  Soul,  of  the 
Will  in  man  and  of  his  higher  Conscious¬ 
ness  from  the  standpoint  of  genius  and  its 
manifesting  faculties,  can  never  be  summar¬ 
ized  into  a  system  of  general  ideas  repre- 


126 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


sented  by  brief  formulae ;  no  more  than  the 
psychology  of  material  nature  can  have  its 
manifold  mysteries  solved  by  the  mere  anal¬ 
ysis  of  its  physical  phenomena.  There  is 
no  special  organ  of  will,  any  more  than  there 
is  a  physical  basis  for  the  activities  of  self- 
consciousness. 

“If  the  question  is  pressed  as  to  the  physical 
basis  for  the  activities  of  self-consciousness,  no 
answer  can  be  given  or  suggested.  .  .  .  From 

its  very  nature,  that  marvelous  verifying  actus  of 
mind  in  which  it  recognizes  the  states  as  its  own, 
can  have  no  analogous  or  corresponding  mater¬ 
ial  substratum.  It  is  impossible  to  specify  any 
physiological  process  representing  this  unifying 
actus;  it  is  even  impossible  to  imagine  how  the 
description  of  any  such  process  could  he  brought 
into  intelligible  relation  with  this  unique  mental 
power.”  * 

Thus,  the  whole  conclave  of  psycho-phy¬ 
siologists  may  be  challenged  to  correctly  de¬ 
fine  Consciousness,  and  they  are  sure  to  fail, 
because  Self-consciousness  belongs  alone  to 
man  and  proceeds  from  the  Self,  the  higher 
Manas.  Only,  whereas  the  psychic  element 

*  Physiological  Psychology ,  etc .,  p.  545,  by  George  T. 
Ladd,  Professor  of  Philosophy  in  Yale  University. 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION 


127 


(or  Kama  Manas')*  is  common  to  both  the 
animal  and  the  human  being — the  far  higher 
degree  of  its  development  in  the  latter  rest¬ 
ing  merely  on  the  greater  perfection  and 
sensitiveness  of  his  cerebral  cells — no  physi¬ 
ologist,  not  even  the  cleverest,  will  ever  be 
able  to  solve  the  mystery  of  the  human 
mind,  in  its  highest  spiritual  manifestation, 
or  in  its  dual  aspect  of  the  psychic  and  the 
noetic  (or  the  manasic), t  or  even  to  com¬ 
prehend  the  intricacies  of  the  former  on  the 
purely  material  plane — unless  he  knows 
something  of,  and  is  prepared  to  admit  the 
presence  of  this  dual  element.  This  means 
that  he  would  have  to  admit  a  lower  (ani¬ 
mal),  and  a  higher  (or  divine)  mind  in  man, 
or  what  is  known  in  Occultism  as  the  “per¬ 
sonal”  and  the  “impersonal’’  Egos .  For, 
between  the  psychic  and  the  noetic ,  between 
the  Personality  and  the  Individuality ,  there 
exists  the  same  abyss  as  between  a  “Jack 

*  Or  what  the  Kabalists  call  Nephesh ,  the  “breath  of 
life”. 

t  The  Sanskrit  word  Manas  (Mind)  is  used  by  us  in  prefer¬ 
ence  to  the  Greek  Nous  (noetic)  because  the  latter  word 
having  been  so  imperfectly  understood  in  philosophy, 
suggests  no  definite  meaning. 


128 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


the  Ripper”,  and  a  holy  Buddha.  Unless 
the  physiologist  accepts  all  this,  we  say,  he 
will  ever  he  led  into  a  quagmire.  We  in¬ 
tend  to  prove  it. 

As  all  know,  the  great  majority  of  our 
learned  “Didymi”  reject  the  idea  of  free¬ 
will.  Now  this  question  is  a  problem  that 
has  occupied  the  minds  of  thinkers  for  ages; 
every  school  of  thought  having  taken  it  up 
in  turn  and  left  it  as  far  from  solution  as 
ever.  And  yet,  placed  as  it  is  in  the  fore¬ 
most  ranks  of  philosophical  quandaries,  the 
modern  “psycho-physiologists”  claim  in  the 
coolest  and  most  bumptious  way  to  have  cut 
the  Gordian  knot  forever.  For  them  the 
feeling  of  personal  free  agency  is  an  error, 
an  illusion,  “the  collective  hallucination  of 
mankind”.  This  conviction  starts  from  the 
principle  that  no  mental  activity  is  possible 
without  a  brain,  and  that  there  can  be  no 
brain  without  a  body.  As  the  latter  is, 
moreover,  subject  to  the  general  laws  of  a 
material  world  where  all  is  based  on  neces¬ 
sity,  and  where  there  is  no  spontaneity,  our 
modern  psycho-physiologist  has  nolens  volens 
to  repudiate  any  self-spontaneity  in  human 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION 


129 


action.  Here  we  have,  for  instance,  a  Lau¬ 
sanne  professor  of  physiology,  A.  A.  Herzen, 
to  whom  the  claim  of  free  will  in  man 
appears  as  the  most  unscientific  absurdity. 
Says  this  oracle  : — 

uIn  the  boundless  physical  and  chemical 
laboratory  that  surrounds  man,  organic  life  rep¬ 
resents  quite  an  unimportant  group  of  phenom¬ 
ena  ;  and  amongst  the  latter,  the  place  occupied 
by  life  having  reached  to  the  stage  of  conscious¬ 
ness,  is  so  minute  that  it  is  absurd  to  exclude 
man  from  the  sphere  of  action  of  a  general  law, 
in  order  to  allow  in  him  the  existence  of  a  sub¬ 
jective  spontaneity  or  a  free  will  standing  outside 
of  that  law.  ” — (Psychophysiologie  Generale.) 

For  the  Occultist  who  knows  the  differ¬ 
ence  between  the  psychic  and  the  noetic 
elements  in  man,  this  is  pure  trash,  notwith¬ 
standing  its  sound  scientific  basis.  For 
when  the  author  puts  the  question — if  psy¬ 
chic  phenomena  do  not  represent  the  results 
of  an  action  of  a  molecular  character  whith¬ 
er  then  does  motion  disappear  after  reaching 
the  sensory  centres? — we  answer  that  we 
never  denied  the  fact.  But  what  has  this  to 
do  with  a  free-will?  That  every  phenomenon 
in  the  visible  Universe  has  its  genesis  in 


130 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


motion,  is  an  old  axiom  in  Occultism ;  nor 
do  we  doubt  that  the  psycho-physiologist 
would  place  himself  at  logger-heads  with 
the  whole  conclave  of  exact  scientists  were 
he  to  allow  the  idea  that  at  a  given  moment 
a  whole  series  of  physical  phenomena  may 
disappear  in  the  vacuum.  Therefore,  when 
the  author  of  the  work  cited  maintains  that 
the  said  force  does  not  disappear  upon  reach¬ 
ing  the  highest  nervous  centres,  but  that  it 
is  forthwith  transformed  into  another  series, 
viz.,  that  of  psychic  manifestations,  into 
thought,  feeling,  and  consciousness,  just  as 
this  same  psychic  force  when  applied  to  pro¬ 
duce  some  work  of  a  physical  ( e .  g .  muscu¬ 
lar)  character  gets  transformed  into  the 
latter — Occultism  supports  him,  for  it  is  the 
first  to  say  that  all  psychic  activity,  from 
its  lowest  to  its  highest  manifestations,  is 
“nothing  but — motion”. 

Yes,  it  is  motion;  but  not  all  “molecular” 
motion,  as  the  writer  means  us  to  infer. 
Motion  as  the  great  breath  ( vide  “Secret 
Doctrine”,  vol.  I.,  sub  voce ) — ergo  “sound” 
at  the  same  time — is  the  substratum  of  Kos- 
mic-Motion.  It  is  beginningless  and  end- 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  131 


less,  the  one  eternal  life ,  the  basis  and 
genesis  of  the  subjective  and  the  objective 
universe;  for  life  (or  Be-ness)  is  the  fons 
et  origo  of  existence  or  being.  But  molecu¬ 
lar  motion  is  the  lowest  and  most  material 
of  its  finite  manifestations.  And  if  the  gen¬ 
eral  law  of  the  conservation  of  energy  leads 
modern  science  to  the  conclusion  that  psy¬ 
chic  activity  only  represents  a  special 
form  of  motion,  this  same  law,  guiding  the 
Occultists,  leads  them  also  to  the  same  con¬ 
viction — and  to  something  else  besides, 
which  psycho-physiology  leaves  entirely  out 
of  all  consideration.  If  the  latter  has  dis¬ 
covered  only  in  this  century  that  psychic 
(we  say  even  spiritual)  action  is  subject  to 
the  same  general  and  immutable  laws  of 
motion  as  any  other  phenomenon  manifest¬ 
ed  in  the  objective  realm  of  Kosmos,  and 
that  in  both  the  organic  and  the  inor¬ 
ganic^)  worlds  every  manifestation,  wheth¬ 
er  conscious  or  unconscious,  represents  but 
the  result  of  a  collectivity  of  causes,  then 
in  Occult  philosophy  this  represents  merely 
the  A,  B,  C,  of  its  science.  “All  the  world  is 
in  the  Swara ;  Swara  is  the  Spirit  itself  ” — 


132 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


the  one  life  or  motion,  say  the  old  books 
of  Hindu  Occult  philosophy.  “  The  proper 
translation  of  the  word  Swara  is  the  current 
of  the  life  wave”,  says  the  author  of  “Na¬ 
ture’s  Finer  Forces”,*  and  he  goes  on  to 
explain  : — 

“  It  is  that  wavy  motion  which  is  the  cause  of 
the  evolution  of  cosmic  undifferentiated  matter 
into  the  differentiated  universe.  .  .  .  From 

whence  does  this  motion  come  ?  This  motion  is 
the  spirit  itself.  The  wofd  atma  (universal  soul) 
used  in  the  book  (vide  infra),  itself  carries  the 
idea  of  eternal  motion,  coming  as  it  does  from 
the  root,  at,  or  eternal  motion ;  and  it  may  be 
significantly  remarked,  that  the  root  at  is  con¬ 
nected  with,  is  in  fact  simply  another  form  of, 
the  roots  ah,  breath,  and  as,  being.  All  these 
roots  have  for  their  origin  the  sound  produced 
by  the  breath  of  animals  (living  beings) . 


*  The  Theosoqhist ,  Feb.  1888,  p.  275,  by  Rama  Prasad, 
President  of  the  Meerut  Theosophical  Society.  As  the 
Occult  book  cited  by  him  says :  “  It  is  the  Swara  that  has 
given  form  to  the  first  accumulations  of  the  divisions  of 
the  universe;  the  Swara  causes  evolution  and  involution; 
the  Swara  is  God,  or  more  properly  the  Great  Power  itself 
( Maheshwara ).  The  Swara  is  the  manifestation  of  the 
impression  on  matter  of  that  power  which  in  man  is 
known  to  us  as  the  power  which  knows  itself  (mental  and 
psychic  consciousness).  It  is  to  be  understood  that  the 
action  of  this  power  never  ceases.  .  .  .  It  is  unchange¬ 
able  existence”— and  this  is  the  “Motion”  of  the  Scien¬ 
tists  and  the  universal  Breath  of  Life  of  the  Occultists. 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  133 


The  primeval  current  of  the  life-wave  is  then  the 
same  which  assumes  in  man  the  form  of  inspira¬ 
tory  and  expiratory  motion  of  the  lungs,  and 
this  is  the  all-pervading  source  of  the  evolution 
and  involution  of  the  universe . ” 

So  much  about  motion  and  the  “conserva¬ 
tion  of  energy”  from  old  books  on  magic 
written  and  taught  ages  before  the  birth  of 
inductive  and  exact  modern  science.  For 
what  does  the  latter  say  more  than  these 
books  in  speaking,  for  instance,  about  ani¬ 
mal  mechanism ,  when  it  says: — 

44  From  the  visible  atom  to  the  celestial  body 
lost  in  space,  everything  is  subject  to  motion  .... 
kept  at  a  definite  distance  one  from  the  other, 
in  proportion  to  the  motion  which  animates 
them,  the  molecules  present  constant  relations, 
which  they  lose  only  by  the  addition  or  the  sub¬ 
traction  of  a  certain  quantity  of  motion.”* 

But  Occultism  says  more  than  this.  While 
making  of  motion  on  the  material  plane  and 
of  the  conservation  of  energy,  two  funda¬ 
mental  laws,  or  rather  two  aspects  of  the 
same  omnipresent  law — k Swara ,  it  denies 
point  blank  that  these  have  anything  to  do 

*  Animal  Mechanism ,  a  treatise  on  terrestrial  and  aer¬ 
ial  locomotion.  By  E.  J.  Marey,  Prof,  at  the  College  of 
France,  and  Member  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine. 


134 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


with  free-will  in  man  which  belongs  to  quite 
a  different  plane.  The  author  of  “  Psycho- 
physiologie  Generale  ”,  treating  of  his  dis¬ 
covery  that  psychic  action  is  but  motion,  and 
the  result  of  a  collectivity  of  causes — re¬ 
marks  that  as  it  is  so,  there  cannot  be  any 
further  discussion  upon  spontaneity — in  the 
sense  of  any  native  internal  proneness  cre¬ 
ated  by  the  human  organism ;  and  adds  that 
the  above  puts  an  end  to  all  claim  for 
free-will!  The  Occultist  denies  the  conclu¬ 
sion.  The  actual  fact  of  man’s  psychic  (we 
say  manasic  or  noetic)  individuality  is  a 
sufficient  warrant  against  the  assumption ; 
for  in  the  case  of  this  conclusion  being  cor¬ 
rect,  or  being  indeed,  as  the  author  expresses 
it,  the  collective  hallucination  of  the  whole 
mankind  throughout  the  ages ,  there  would 
be  an  end  also  to  psychic  individuality. 

Now  by  “ psychic”  individuality  we  mean 
that  self-determining  power  which  enables 
man  to  override  circumstances.  Place  half 
a  dozen  animals  of  the  same  species  under 
the  same  circumstances,  and  their  actions, 
while  not  identical,  will  be  closely  similar ; 
place  half  a  dozen  men  under  the  same  cir- 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION 


135 


cumstances,  and  their  actions  will  be  as 
different  as  their  characters,  i.  e .,  psychic 
individuality . 

But  if  instead  of  “psychic”  we  call  it 
the  higher  Self-conscious  Will,  then  having 
been  shown  by  the  science  of  psycho-phy¬ 
siology  itself  that  will  has  no  special  organ , 
how  will  the  materialists  connect  it  with 
“  molecular  ”  motion  at  all  ?  As  Professor 
George  T.  Ladd  says : 

“  The  phenomena  of  human  consciousness  must 
be  regarded  as  activities  of  some  other  form  of  Beal 
Being ,  than  the  moving  molecules  of  the  brain . 
They  require  a  subject  or  ground  which  is  in  its 
nature  unlike  the  phosphorized  fats  of  the  cen¬ 
tral  masses,  the  aggregated  nerve-fibres  of  nerve- 
cells  of  the  cerebral  cortex.  This  Real  Being 
thus  manifested  immediately  to  itself  in  the 
phenomena  of  consciousness,  and  indirectly  to 
others  through  the  bodily  changes,  is  the  Mind 
(Manas).  To  it  the  mental  phenomena  are  to  be 
attributed  as  showing  what  it  is  by  what  it  does. 
The  so-called  mental  ‘  faculties  ’  are  only  the 
modes  of  the  behavior  in  consciousness  of  this 
real  being.  We  actually  find,  by  the  only  meth¬ 
od  available,  that  this  real  being  called  Mind 
believes  in  certain  perpetually  recurring  modes ; 
therefore,  we  attribute  to  it  certain  faculties.  .  . 
Mental  faculties  are  not  entities  that  have  an 


136 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


existence  of  themselves . They  are  the 

modes  of  the  behavior  in  consciousness  of  the 
Mind.  And  the  very  nature  of  the  classifying 
acts  which  lead  to  their  being  distinguished,  is 
explicable  only  upon  the  assumption  that  a  Real 
Being  called  Mind  exists ,  and  is  to  be  distinguished 
from  the  real  beings  known  as  the  physical  mole¬ 
cules  of  the  brain’s  nervous  mass.”  * 

And  having  shown  that  we  have  to  regard 
consciousness  as  a  unit  (another  occult 
proposition)  the  author  adds  : — 

“We  conclude,  then,  from  the  previous  con¬ 
siderations:  the  subject  of  all  the  states  of  con¬ 
sciousness  is  a  real  unit-being ,  called  Mind;  which 
is  of  non-material  nature ,  and  acts  and  develops 
according  to  laws  of  its  own,  but  is  specially  corre¬ 
lated  with  certain  material  molecules  and  masses 
forming  the  substance  of  the  Brain .”  t 

This  “  Mind  ”  is  Manas ,  or  rather  its  lower 
reflection,  which  whenever  it  disconnects  it¬ 
self,  for  the  time  being,  from  kama ,  becomes 
the  guide  of  the  highest  mental  faculties, 
and  is  the  organ  of  the  free-will  in  physical 

*  The  higher  manas  or  “  Ego  ”  ( Kshetrajna )  is  the  “  Silent 
Spectator”,  and  the  voluntary  “sacrificial  victim”:  the 
lower  manas,  its  representative— a  tyrannical  despot,  truly. 

t  Elements  of  Physiological  Psychology.  A  treatise  of 
the  activities  and  nature  of  the  Mind,  from  the  Physical 
and  Experimental  Point  of  View,  pp.  606  and  613. 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  137 


man.  Therefore,  this  assumption  of  the 
newest  psycho-physiology  is  uncalled  for, 
and  the  apparent  impossibility  of  reconcil¬ 
ing  the  existence  of  free-will  with  the  law 
of  the  conservation  of  energy  is — a  pure 
fallacy.  This  was  well  shown  in  the  “  Sci¬ 
entific  Letters”  of  “Elpay”  in  a  criticism 
of  the  work.  But  to  prove  it  finally  and 
set  the  whole  question  definitely  at  rest, 
does  not  even  require  so  high  an  interfer¬ 
ence  (high  for  us,  at  any  rate)  as  the  Occult 
laws,  but  simply  a  little  common  sense.  Let 
us  analyse  the  question  dispassionately. 

It  is  postulated  by  one  man,  presumably 
a  scientist,  that  because  “  psychic  action  is 
found  subject  to  the  general  and  immutable 
laws  of  motion,  there  is,  therefore,  no  free¬ 
will  in  man  ”.  The  “  analytical  method  of 
exact  sciences”  has  demonstrated  it,  and 
materialistic  scientists  have  decreed  to  “pass 
the  resolution  ”  that  the  fact  should  be  so 
accepted  by  their  followers.  But  there  are 
other  and  far  greater  scientists  who  thought 
differently.  For  instance,  Sir  William  Law¬ 
rence,  the  eminent  surgeon,  declared  in  his 


138 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


lectures  *  that : — 

“  The  philosophical  doctrine  of  the  soul,  and 
its  separate  existence,  has  nothing  to  do  with 
this  physiological  question,  but  rests  on  a  species 
of  proof  altogether  different.  These  sublime 
dogmas  could  never  have  been  brought  to  light 
by  the  labors  of  the  anatomist  and  physiologist. 
An  immaterial  and  spiritual  being  could  not 
have  been  discovered  amid  the  blood  and  filth  of 
the  dissecting  room.” 

Now,  let  us  examine  on  the  testimony  of 
the  materialist  how  this  universal  solvent 
called  the  “  analytical  method  ”  is  applied 
in  this  special  case.  The  author  of  uPsy- 
chophysiologie ”  decomposes  psychic  activ¬ 
ity  into  its  compound  elements,  traces  them 
back  to  motion,  and,  failing  to  find  in 
them  the  slightest  trace  of  free-will  or  spon¬ 
taneity,  jumps  at  the  conclusion  that  the 
latter  have  no  existence  in  general ;  nor  are 
they  to  be  found  in  that  psychic  activity 
which  he  has  just  decomposed.  “Are  not 
the  fallacy  and  error  of  such  an  unscientific 
proceeding  self-evident?”  asks  his  critic; 

*W.  Lawrence.  Lectures  on  Comparative  Anatomy, 
Physiology,  Zoology,  and  the  Natural  History  of  Man . 
8 vo.  London,  1848,  p.  6. 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  139 


and  then  argues  very  correctly  that : — 

“At  this  rate,  and  starting  from  the  stand¬ 
point  of  this  analytical  method,  one  would  have 
an  equal  right  to  deny  every  phenomenon  in 
nature  from  first  to  last.  For,  do  not  sound  and 
light,  heat  and  electricity,  like  all  other  chemical 
processes,  once  decomposed  into  their  respective 
elements,  lead  the  experimenter  back  to  the 
same  motion,  wherein  all  the  peculiarities  of  the 
given  elements  disappear,  leaving  behind  them 
only  ‘  the  vibrations  of  molecules  ’  ?  But  does 
it  necessarily  follow  that  for  all  that,  heat,  light, 
electricity — are  but  illusions  instead  of  the  actual 
manifestations  of  the  peculiarities  of  our  real 
world?  Such  peculiarities  are  not,  of  course,  to 
be  found  in  compound  elements,  simply  because 
we  cannot  expect  that  a  part  should  contain, 
from  first  to  last,  the  properties  of  the  whole. 
What  should  we  say  of  a  chemist,  who,  having 
decomposed  water  into  its  compounds,  hydrogen 
and  oxygen,  without  finding  in  them  the  special 
characteristics  of  water,  would  maintain  that 
such  did  not  exist  at  all  nor  could  they  be  found 
in  water?  What  of  an  antiquary,  who  upon 
examining  distributed  type  and  finding  no  sense 
in  every  separate  letter,  should  assert  that  there 
was  no  such  thing  as  sense  to  be  found  in  any 
printed  document?  And  does  not  the  author  of 
Psychophysiologie  act  just  in  this  way  when 
he  denies  the  existence  of  free-will  or  self-spon- 


140 


STUDIES  IK  OCCULTISM 


taneity  in  man,  on  the  grounds  that  this  dis¬ 
tinctive  faculty  of  the  highest  psychic  activity 
is  absent  from  those  compound  elements  which 
he  has  analysed?  ” 

Most  undeniably  no  separate  piece  of 
brick,  of  wood,  or  iron,  each  of  which  has 
once  been  a  part  of  a  building  now  in  ruins, 
can  be  expected  to  preserve  the  smallest 
trace  of  the  architecture  of  that  building — 
in  the  hands  of  the  chemist,  at  any  rate; 
though  it  would  in  those  of  a  psychometer , 
a  faculty,  by  the  bye,  which  demonstrates 
far  more  powerfully  the  law  of  the  conserva¬ 
tion  of  energy  than  any  physical  science 
does,  and  shows  it  acting  as  much  in  the 
subjective  or  psychic  worlds  as  on  the  ob¬ 
jective  and  material  planes.  The  genesis  of 
sound,  on  this  plane,  has  to  be  traced  back  to 
the  same  motion,  and  the  same  correlation 
of  forces  is  at  play  during  the  phenomenon 
as  in  the  case  of  every  other  manifestation. 
Shall  the  physicist,  then,  who  decomposes 
sound  into  its  compound  element  of  vibra¬ 
tions  and  fails  to  find  in  them  any  harmony 
or  special  melody,  deny  the  existence  of  the 
latter?  And  does  not  this  prove  that  the 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION 


141 


analytical  method  having  to  deal  exclusively 
with  the  elements,  and  nothing  to  do  with 
their  combinations ,  leads  the  physicist  to 
talk  very  glibly  about  motion,  vibration, 
and  what  not,  and  to  make  him  entirely  lose 
sight  of  the  harmony  produced  by  certain  com¬ 
binations  of  that  motion  or  the  “  harmony  of 
vibrations”?  Criticism,  then,  is  right  in 
accusing  Materialistic  psycho-physiology  of 
neglecting  these  all-important  distinctions; 
in  maintaining  that  if  a  careful  observation 
of  facts  is  a  duty  in  the  simplest  physical 
phenomena,  how  much  more  should  it  be  so 
when  applied  to  such  complex  and  import¬ 
ant  questions  as  psychic  force  and  faculties? 
And  yet  in  most  cases  all  such  essential  dif¬ 
ferences  are  overlooked,  and  the  analytical 
method  is  applied  in  a  most  arbitrary  and 
prejudiced  way.  What  wonder,  then,  if, 
in  carrying  back  psychic  action  to  its  basic 
elements  of  motion,  the  psycho-physiologist 
depriving  it  during  the  process  of  all  its 
essential  characteristics,  should  destroy  it; 
and  having  destroyed  it,  it  only  stands  to 
reason  that  he  is  unable  to  find  that  which 
exists  in  it  no  longer.  He  forgets,  in  short, 


142 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


or  rather  purposely  ignores  the  fact,  that 
though,  like  all  other  phenomena  on  the 
material  plane,  psychic  manifestations  must 
he  related  in  their  final  analysis  to  the  world 
of  vibration  (“  sound ”  being  the  substratum 
of  universal  Akasa ),  yet,  in  their  origin, 
they  belong  to  a  different  and  a  higher 
World  of  Harmony.  Elpay  has  a  few  se¬ 
vere  sentences  against  the  assumptions  of 
those  he  calls  “  physico-biologists  ”  which 
are  worthy  of  note. 

“Unconscious  of  their  error,  the  psycho-physi¬ 
ologists  identify  the  compound  elements  of 
psychic  activity  with  that  activity  itself:  hence 
the  conclusion  from  the  standpoint  of  the  ana¬ 
lytical  method,  that  the  highest,  distinctive  spe¬ 
ciality  of  the  human  soul — free-will,  spontaneity 
— is  an  illusion,  and  no  psychic  reality.  But  as 
we  have  just  shown,  such  identification  not  only 
has  nothing  in  common  with  exact  science,  but 
is  simply  impermissible,  as  it  clashes  with  all  the 
fundamental  laws  of  logic,  in  consequence  of 
which  all  these  so-called  physico-biological  de¬ 
ductions  emanating  from  the  said  identification 
vanish  into  thin  air.  Thus  to  trace  psychic 
action  primarily  to  motion,  means  in  no  way  to 
prove  the  “illusion  of  free-will”.  And,  as  in 
the  case  of  water,  whose  specific  qualities  cannot 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  143 


be  deprived  of  their  reality  although  they  are 
not  to  be  found  in  its  compound  gases,  so  with 
regard  to  the  specific  property  of  psychic  action : 
its  spontaneity  cannot  be  refused  to  psychic  real¬ 
ity,  though  this  property  is  not  contained  in  those 
finite  elements  into  which  the  psycho-physiolo¬ 
gist  dismembers  the  activity  in  question  under 
his  mental  scalpel.” 

This  method  is  “a  distinctive  feature  of 
modern  science  in  its  endeavor  to  satisfy 
inquiry  into  the  nature  of  the  objects  of  its 
investigation  by  a  detailed  description  of 
their  development  ”,  says  G.  T.  Ladd.  And 
the  author  of  “  The  Elements  of  Physiolog¬ 
ical  Psychology  ”,  adds: — 

“The  universal  process  of  ‘Becoming’  has 
been  almost  personified  and  deified  so  as  to  make 
it  the  true  ground  of  all  finite  and  concrete 

existence . The  attempt  is  made  to  refer 

all  the  so-called  development  of  the  mind  to  the 
evolution  of  the  substance  of  the  brain,  under 
purely  physical  and  mechanical  causes.  This 
attempt,  then,  denies  that  any  real  unit-being 
called  the  Mind  needs  to  be  assumed  as  undergo¬ 
ing  a  process  of  development  according  to  laws 
of  its  own .  On  the  other  hand,  all  at¬ 

tempts  to  account  for  the  orderly  increase  in 
complexity  and  comprehensiveness  of  the  men- 


144 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


tal  phenomena  by  tracing  the  physical  evolution 
of  the  brain  are  wholly  unsatisfactory  to  many 
minds.  We  have  no  hesitation  in  classing  our¬ 
selves  among  this  number.  Those  facts  of  ex¬ 
perience  which  show  a  correspondence  in  the 
order  of  the  development  of  the  body  and  the 
mind,  and  even  a  certain  necessary  dependence 
of  the  latter  upon  the  former,  are,  of  course,  to 
be  admitted;  but  they  are  equally  compatible 
with  another  view  of  the  mind’s  development. 
This  other  view  has  the  additional  advantages 
that  it  makes  room  for  many  other  facts  of  ex¬ 
perience  which  are  very  difficult  of  reconcilia¬ 
tion  with  any  materialistic  theory.  On  the 
whole,  the  history  of  each  individual's  experiences 
is  such  as  requires  the  assumption  that  a  real  unit¬ 
being  (a  Mind)  is  undergoing  a  process  of  devel¬ 
opment,  in  relation  to  the  changing  condition  or 
evolution  of  the  brain,  and  yet  in  accordance  with 
a  nature  and  laws  of  its  own  ”  (p.  616). 

How  closely  this  last  u  assumption  ”  of 
science  approaches  the  teachings  of  the 
Occult  philosophy  will  be  shown  in  Part  II 
of  this  article.  Meanwhile,  we  may  close 
with  an  answer  to  the  latest  materialistic 
fallacy,  which  may  be  summarized  in  a  few 
words.  As  every  psychic  action  has  for  its 
substratum  the  nervous  elements  whose  ex¬ 
istence  it  postulates,  and  outside  which  it 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  145 


cannot  act;  as  the  activity  of  the  nervous 
elements  are  only  molecular  motion,  there 
is  therefore  no  need  to  invent  a  special  and 
psychic  Force  for  the  explanation  of  our 
brain  work.  Free-will  would  force  Science 
to  postulate  an  invisible  Free -  Witter,  a  cre¬ 
ator  of  that  special  Force. 

We  agree:  “not  the  slightest  need”  of  a 
creator  of  “  that  special  ”  or  any  other 
Force.  Nor  has  any  one  ever  claimed  such 
an  absurdity.  But  between  creating  and 
guiding  there  is  a  difference,  and  the  latter 
implies  in  no  way  any  creation  of  the  ener¬ 
gy  of  motion,  or,  indeed,  of  any  special 
energy.  Psychic  mind  (in  contradistinc¬ 
tion  to  manasic  or  noetic  mind)  only  trans¬ 
forms  this  energy  of  the  “  unit-being  ” 
according  to  “  a  nature  and  laws  of  its 
own  ” — to  use  Ladd’s  felicitous  expression. 
The  “  unit-being  ”  creates  nothing,  but  only 
causes  a  natural  correlation  in  accordance 
with  both  the  physical  laws  and  laws  of  its 
own ;  having  to  use  the  Force,  it  guides  its 
direction,  choosing  the  paths  along  which  it 
will  proceed,  and  stimulating  it  to  action. 
And,  as  its  activity  is  sui  generis,  and  inde- 


146 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


pendent,  it  carries  this  energy  from  this 
world  of  disharmony  into  its  own  sphere  of 
harmony.  Were  it  not  independent  it  could 
not  do  so.  As  it  is,  the  freedom  of  man’s 
will  is  boyond  doubt  or  cavil.  Therefore, 
as  already  observed,  there  is  no  question  of 
creation,  but  simply  of  guidance .  Because 
the  sailor  at  the  wheel  does  not  create  the 
steam  in  the  engine,  shall  we  say  that  he 
does  not  direct  the  vessel? 

And,  because  we  refuse  to  accept  the 
fallacies  of  some  psycho-physiologists  as 
the  last  word  of  science,  do  we  furnish 
thereby  a  new  proof  that  free-will  is  an 
hallucination?  We  deride  the  animalistic 
idea.  How  far  more  scientific  and  logical, 
besides  being  as  poetical  as  it  is  grand,  is 
the  teaching  in  the  Kathopanishad,  which, 
in  a  beautiful  and  descriptive  metaphor, 
says  that :  “  The  senses  are  the  horses, 
body  is  the  chariot,  mind  (Jcama-manas) 
is  the  reins,  and  intellect  (or  free-will ) 
the  charioteer”.  Yerily  there  is  more  exact 
science  in  the  less  important  of  the  Upan - 
ishads ,  composed  thousands  of  years  ago, 
than  in  all  the  materialistic  ravings  of 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  147 


modern  “  physico-biology  ”  and  “  psycho¬ 
physiology  ”  put  together ! 


“ . The  knowledge  of  the  past,  present,  and 

future  is  embodied  in  Kshetrajna  (the  ‘Self ’) .’’—Occult 
Axioms. 


TTAVING  explained  in  what  particulars, 
*  1  and  why,  as  Occultists,  we  disagree 
with  materialistic  physiological  psychology, 
we  may  now  proceed  to  point  out  the  dif¬ 
ference  between  pyschic  and  noetic  mental 
functions,  the  noetic  not  being  recognized 
by  official  science. 

Moreover,  we,  Theosophists,  understand 
the  terms  “ psychic”  and  “psychism”  some¬ 
what  differently  from  the  average  public, 
science,  and  even  theology,  the  latter  giving 
it  a  significance  which  both  science  and 
Theosophy  reject,  and  the  public  in  general 
remaining  with  a  very  hazy  conception  of 
what  is  really  meant  by  the  terms.  For 
many,  there  is  little,  if  any,  difference  be- 


148 


STUDIES  m  OCCULTISM 


tween  “psychic”  and  “psychological”,  both 
words  relating  in  some  way  to  the  human 
soul.  Some  modern  metaphysicians  have 
wisely  agreed  to  disconnect  the  word  Mind 
( pneuma )  from  Soul  {psyche) ,  the  one  being 
the  rational,  spiritual  part,  the  other — psyche 
— the  living  principle  in  man,  the  breath 
that  animates  him  (from  anima ,  soul). 
Yet,  if  this  is  so,  how  in  this  case  refuse  a 
soul  to  animals  f  These  are,  no  less  than 
man,  informed  with  the  same  principle  of 
sentient  life,  the  nephesh  of  the  2d  chapter 
of  Genesis .  The  Soul  is  by  no  means  the 
Mind,  nor  can  an  idiot,  bereft  of  the  latter, 
be  called  a  “  soul-less  ”  being.  To  describe, 
as  the  physiologists  do,  the  human  Soul  in 
its  relations  to  senses  and  appetites,  desires 
and  passions,  common  to  man  and  the  brute, 
and  then  endow  it  with  God-like  intellect 
with  spiritual  and  rational  faculties  which 
can  take  their  source  but  in  a  supersensible 
world — is  to  throw  forever  the  veil  of  an 
impenetrable  mystery  over  the  subject. 
Yet  in  modern  science,  “psychology”  and 
“  psychism  ”  relate  only  to  conditions  of  the 
nervous  system,  mental  phenomena  being 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  149 


traced  solely  to  molecular  action.  The 
higher  noetic  character  of  the  Mind-Princi¬ 
ple  is  entirely  ignored,  and  even  rejected  as 
a  “  superstition  ”  by  both  physiologists  and 
psychologists.  Psychology,  in  fact,  has  be¬ 
come  a  synonym  in  many  cases  for  the  sci¬ 
ence  of  psychiatry.  Therefore,  students  of 
Theosophy  being  compelled  to  differ  from 
all  these,  have  adopted  the  doctrine  that 
underlies  the  time-honored  philosophies  of 
the  East,  What  it  is,  may  be  found  fur¬ 
ther  on. 

To  better  understand  the  foregoing  argu¬ 
ments  and  those  which  follow,  the  reader 
is  asked  to  turn  to  the  editorial  in  the 
September  Lucifer ,  (“The  Dual  Aspect  of 
Wisdom”,  p.  3),  and  acquaint  himself  with 
the  double  aspect  of  that  which  is  termed  by 
St.  James  in  his  Third  Epistle — at  once — the 
devilish,  terrestrial  wisdom,  and  the  “wis¬ 
dom  from  above  ”.  In  another  editorial, 
“Kosmic  Mind”  (April,  1890),  it  is  also 
stated  that  the  ancient  Hindus  endowed  ev¬ 
ery  cell  in  the  human  body  with  conscious¬ 
ness,  giving  each  the  name  of  a  God  or 
Goddess.  Speaking  of  atoms  in  the  name 


150 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


of  science  and  philosophy,  Professor  Ladd 
calls  them  in  his  work  “ supersensible  be¬ 
ings”.  Occultism  regards  every  atom*  as 
an  “  independent  entity  ”  and  every  cell  as 
a  “conscious  unit”.  It  explains  that  no 
sooner  do  such  atoms  group  to  form  cells, 
than  the  latter  become  endowed  with  con¬ 
sciousness,  each  of  its  own  kind,  and  with 
free  will  to  act  within  the  limits  of  law. 
Nor  are  we  entirely  deprived  of  scientific 
evidence  for  such  statements  as  the  two 
above  named  editorials  well  prove.  More 
than  one  learned  physiologist  of  the  golden 
minority,  in  our  own  day,  moreover,  is  rap¬ 
idly  coming  to  the  conviction,  that  memory 
has  no  seat,  no  special  organ  of  its  own  in 
the  human  brain,  but  that  it  has  seats  in 
every  organ  of  the  body. 

“No  good  ground  exists  for  speaking  of 
any  special  organ,  or  seat  of  memory,” 
writes  Professor  G.  T.  Ladd.  “Every  organ, 
indeed  every  area,  and  every  limit  of  the 
nervous  system  has  its  own  memory  ” 
(p.  553,  loc .  tit.). 

*One  of  the  names  of  Brahm&  is  anu  or  “  atom 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION 


151 


The  seat  of  memory,  then,  is  assuredly 
neither  here  nor  there,  but  everywhere 
throughout  the  human  body.  To  locate  its 
organ  in  the  brain  is  to  limit  and  dwarf  the 
Universal  Mind  and  its  countless  Rays  (the 
Manasa  putra)  which  inform  every  rational 
mortal.  As  we  write  for  Theosophists,  first 
of  all,  we  care  little  for  the  psychophobian 
prejudices  of  the  Materialists  who  may  read 
this  and  sniff  contemptuously  at  the  men¬ 
tion  of  “  Universal  Mind  ”,  and  the  Higher 
noetic  souls  of  men.  But,  what  is  memory  ? 
we  ask.  “  Both  presentation  of  sense  and 
image  of  memory,  are  transitory  phases  of 
consciousness  ”,  we  are  answered.  But  what 
is  Consciousness  itself? — we  ask  again.  “  We 
cannot  define  Consciousness ”,  Professor  Ladd 
tells  us.*  Thus,  that  which  we  are  asked  to 
do  by  physiological  psychology  is,  to  con¬ 
tent  ourselves  with  controverting  the  vari¬ 
ous  states  of  Consciousness  by  other  people’s 
private  and  unverifiable  hypotheses ;  and 
this,  on  “questions  of  cerebral  physiology 
where  experts  and  novices  are  alike  ignorant” , 

*  Elements  of  Physiological  Psychology. 


152 


STUDIES  m  OCCULTISM 


to  use  the  pointed  remark  of  the  said  au¬ 
thor.  Hypothesis  for  hypothesis,  then  we 
may  as  well  hold  to  the  teachings  of  our 
Seers,  as  to  the  conjectures  of  those  who 
deny  both  such  Seers  and  their  wisdom. 
The  more  so,  as  we  are  told  by  the  same 
honest  man  of  science,  that  “if  metaphysics 
and  ethics  cannot  properly  dictate  their 
facts  and  conclusions  to  the  science  of  phy¬ 
siological  psychology  ....  in  turn 
this  science  cannot  properly  dictate  to  meta¬ 
physics  and  ethics  the  conclusions  which 
they  shall  draw  from  facts  of  Consciousness, 
by  giving  out  its  myths  and  fables  in  the 
garb  of  well  ascertained  history  of  the 
cerebral  processes”  (p.  554). 

Now,  since  the  metaphysics  of  Occult 
physiology  and  psychology  postulate  within 
mortal  man  an  immortal  entity,  “divine 
Mind  ”,  or  JVous ,  whose  pale  and  too  often 
distorted  reflection  is  that,  which  we  call 
“Mind”  and  intellect  in  men — virtually  an 
entity  apart  from  the  former  during  the 
period  of  every  incarnation — we  say  that 
the  two  sources  of  “  memory  ”  are  in  these 
two  “  principles  ”.  These  two  we  dis- 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION 


153 


tinguish  as  the  Higher  Manas ,  (Mind  or 
Ego),  and  the  Kama- Manas,  i.  e .,  the 
rational,  but  earthly  or  physical  intellect 
of  man,  incased  in,  and  bound  by,  matter, 
therefore  subject  to  the  influence  of  the  lat¬ 
ter  :  the  all-conscious  Self,  that  which  rein¬ 
carnates  periodically — verily  the  Word  made 
flesh ! — and  which  is  always  the  same,  while 
its  reflected  “  Double  ”,  changing  with  every 
new  incarnation  and  personality,  is,  there¬ 
fore,  conscious  but  for  a  life-period.  The 
latter  “  principle  ”  is  the  Lovier  Self,  or  that, 
which  manifesting  through  our  organic  sys¬ 
tem,  acting  on  this  plane  of  illusion,  imagines 
itself  the  Ego  Sum,  and  thus  falls  into  what 
Buddhist  philosophy  brands  as  the  “  heresy 
of  separateness  The  former  we  term  In¬ 
dividuality,  the  latter  Personality.  From 
the  first  proceeds  all  the  noetic  element, 
from  the  second,  the  psychic ,  i.  e .,  “  terres¬ 
trial  wisdom  ”  at  best,  as  it  is  influenced  by 
all  the  chaotic  stimuli  of  the  human  or 
rather  animal  passions  of  the  living  body. 

The  “  Higher  Ego  ”  cannot  act  directly  on 
the  body,  as  its  consciousness  belongs  to 
quite  another  plane  and  planes  of  ideation : 


154 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


the  “  lower  ”  Self  does :  and  its  action  and 
behavior  depend  on  its  free-will  and  choice 
as  to  whether  it  will  gravitate  more  towards 
its  parent  (“the  Father  in  Heaven”)  or 
the  “animal  ”  which  it  informs,  the  man  of 
flesh.  The  “Higher  Ego”,  as  part  of  the 
essence  of  the  Universal  Mind,  is  uncon¬ 
ditionally  omniscient  on  its  own  plane,  and 
only  potentially  so  in  our  terrestrial  sphere, 
as  it  has  to  act  solely  through  its  alter  ego — 
the  Personal  Self.  Now,  although  the  for¬ 
mer  is  the  vehicle  of  all  knowledge  of  the 
past,  the  present,  and  the  future,  and  al¬ 
though  it  is  from  this  fountain-head  that  its 
“double”  catches  occasional  glimpses  of 
that  which  is  beyond  the  senses  of  man,  and 
transmits  them  to  certain  brain  cells  (un¬ 
known  to  science  in  their  functions),  thus 
making  of  man  a  Seer ,  a  soothsayer,  and  a 
prophet;  yet  the  memory  of  bygone  events 
— especially  of  the  earth  earthy — has  its 
seat  in  the  Personal  Ego  alone.  No  memo¬ 
ry  of  a  purely  daily-life  function,  of  a  physi¬ 
cal,  egotistical,  or  of  a  lower  mental  nature 
— such  as,  e.g .,  eating  and  drinking,  enjoying 
personal  sensual  pleasures,  transacting  busi- 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION 


155 


ness  to  the  detriment  of  one’s  neighbor,  etc., 
etc.,  has  aught  to  do  with  the  “Higher” 
Mind  or  Ego.  Nor  has  it  any  direct  deal¬ 
ings  on  this  physical  plane  with  either  our 
brain  or  our  heart — for  these  two  are  the 
organs  of  a  power  higher  than  the  Person¬ 
ality — but  only  with  our  passional  organs, 
such  as  the  liver,  the  stomach,  the  spleen,  etc. 
Thus  it  only  stands  to  reason  that  the  mem¬ 
ory  of  such-like  events  must  be  first  awak¬ 
ened  in  that  organ  which  was  the  first  to 
induce  the  action  remembered  afterwards, 
and  conveyed  it  to  our  “sense-thought”, 
which  is  entirely  distinct  from  the  “  super- 
sensuous ”  thought .  It  is  only  the  higher 
forms  of  the  latter,  the  superconscious  men¬ 
tal  experiences,  that  can  correlate  with  the 
cerebral  and  cardiac  centers.  The  memories 
of  physical  and  selfish  (or  personal)  deeds, 
on  the  other  hand,  together  with  the  mental 
experiences  of  a  terrestrial  nature,  and  of 
earthly  biological  functions,  can,  of  neces¬ 
sity,  only  be  correlated  with  the  molecular 
constitution  of  various  Kamic  organs,  and 
the  “dynamical  associations”  of  the  ele- 


156 


STUDIES  1 1ST  OCCULTISM 


ments  of  the  nervous  system  in  each  particu¬ 
lar  organ. 

Therefore,  when  Professor  Ladd,  after 
showing  that  every  element  of  the  nervous 
system  has  a  memory  of  its  own,  adds : — 
“  This  view  belongs  to  the  very  essence  of 
every  theory  which  considers  conscious 
mental  reproduction  as  only  one  form  or 
phase  of  the  biological  fact  of  organic  mem¬ 
ory  ” — he  must  include  among  such  theories 
the  Occult  teaching.  For  no  Occultist  could 
express  such  teaching  more  correctly  than 
the  Professor,  who  says,  in  winding  up  his 
argument :  “We  might  properly  speak,  then, 
of  the  memory  of  the  end-organ  of  vision 
or  of  hearing,  of  the  memory  of  the  spinal 
cord  and  of  the  different  so-called  6  centers  ’ 
of  reflex  action  belonging  to  the  cords  of 
the  memory  of  the  medulla  oblongata,  the 
cerebellum,  etc.”  This  is  the  essence  of 
Occult  teaching — even  in  the  Tantra  works. 
Indeed,  every  organ  in  our  body  has  its  own 
memory .  For  if  it  is  endowed  with  a  con¬ 
sciousness  “of  its  own  kind”,  every  cell 
must  of  necessity  have  also  a  memory  of  its 
own  kind,  as  likewise  its  own  psychic  and 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  157 


noetic  action.  Responding  to  the  touch  of 
both  a  physical  and  a  metaphysical  Force,* 
the  impulse  given  by  the  psychic  (or  psycho- 
molecular)  Force  will  act  from  without  with¬ 
in ;  while  that  of  the  noetic  (shall  we  call  it 
Spiritual-dynamical  ?)  Force  works  from 
within  without .  For,  as  our  body  is  the 
covering  of  the  inner  “principles”,  soul, 
mind,  life,  etc.,  so  the  molecule  or  the  cell  is 
the  body  in  which  dwell  its  “principles”, 
the  (to  our  senses  and  comprehension)  im¬ 
material  atoms  which  compose  that  cell. 
The  cell’s  activity  and  behavior  are  de¬ 
termined  by  its  being  propelled  either 
inwardly  or  outwardly  by  the  noetic  or 
the  psychic  Force,  the  former  having  no  re¬ 
lation  to  the  physical  cells  proper.  There¬ 
fore,  while  the  latter  act  under  the 
unavoidable  law  of  the  conservation  and 
correlation  of  physical  energy,  the  atoms 
— being  psycho-spiritual,  not  physical  units 
— act  under  laws  of  their  own,  just  as 
Professor  Ladd’s  “Unit-Being”,  which 
is  our  “Mind-Ego”,  does,  in  his  very 

*We  fondly  trust  this  very  unscientific  term  will  throw 
no  “Animalist”  into  hysterics  beyond  recovery. 


158 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


philosophical  and  scientific  hypothesis. 
Every  human  organ  and  each  cell  in  the 
latter  has  a  key-board  of  its  own,  like  that 
of  a  piano,  only  that  it  registers  and  emits 
sensations  instead  of  sounds.  Every  key 
contains  the  potentiality  of  good  or  bad,  of 
producing  harmony  or  disharmony.  This 
depends  on  the  impulse  given  and  the  com¬ 
binations  produced ;  on  the  force  of  the 
touch  of  the  artist  at  work,  a  “  double-faced 
Unity  ”,  indeed.  And  it  is  the  action  of 
this  or  the  other  “  Face  ”  of  the  Unity  that 
determines  the  nature  and  the  dynamical 
character  of  the  manifested  phenomena  as  a 
resulting  action,  and  this  whether  they  be 
physical  or  mental.  For  the  whole  life  of 
man  is  guided  by  this  double-faced  Entity. 
If  the  impulse  comes  from  the  “Wisdom 
above  ”,  the  Force  applied  being  noetic  or 
spiritual,  the  results  will  be  actions  worthy 
of  the  divine  propeller ;  if  from  the  “  ter¬ 
restrial,  devilish  wisdom”  (psychic  power), 
man’s  activities  will  be  selfish,  based  solely 
on  the  exigencies  of  his  physical,  hence  ani¬ 
mal,  nature.  The  above  may  sound  to  the 
average  reader  as  pure  nonsense ;  but  every 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  159 


Theosophist  must  understand  when  told 
that  there  are  Manasic  as  well  as  Kamie 
organs  in  him,  although  the  cells  of  his 
body  answer  to  both  physical  and  spiritual 
impulses. 

Yerily  that  body,  so  desecrated  by  Mater¬ 
ialism  and  man  himself,  is  the  temple  of  the 
Holy  Grail,  the  Adytum  of  the  grandest, 
nay,  of  all,  the  mysteries  of  nature  in  our 
solar  universe.  That  body  is  an  JEolian 
harp,  chorded  with  two  sets  of  strings,  one 
made  of  pure  silver,  the  other  of  catgut. 
When  the  breath  from  the  divine  Fiat 
brushes  softly  over  the  former,  man  becomes 
like  unto  his  God — but  the  other  set  feels  it 
not.  It  needs  the  breeze  of  a  strong  ter¬ 
restrial  wind,  impregnated  with  animal  efflu¬ 
via,  to  set  its  animal  chords  vibrating.  It 
is  the  function  of  the  physical,  lower  mind 
to  act  upon  the  physical  organs  and  their 
cells ;  but,  it  is  the  higher  mind  alone  which 
can  influence  the  atoms  interacting  in  those 
cells,  which  interaction  is  alone  capable  of 
exciting  the  brain,  via  the  spinal  “  center  ” 
cord,  to  a  mental  representation  of  spiritual 
ideas  far  beyond  any  objects  on  this  materi- 


160 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


al  plane.  The  phenomena  of  divine  con¬ 
sciousness  have  to  be  regarded  as  activities 
of  our  mind  on  another  and  a  higher  plane, 
working  through  something  less  substantial 
than  the  moving  molecules  of  the  brain. 
They  cannot  be  explained  as  the  simple  re¬ 
sultant  of  the  cerebral  physiological  pro¬ 
cesses,  as  indeed  the  latter  only  condition 
them  or  give  them  a  final  form  for  purposes 
of  concrete  manifestation.  Occultism  teach¬ 
es  that  the  liver  and  the  spleen-cells  are  the 
most  subservient  to  the  action  of  our  “  per¬ 
sonal  ”  mind,  the  heart  being  the  organ  par 
excellence  through  which  the  “  Higher  ”  Ego 
acts — through  the  Lower  Self. 

Nor  can  the  visions  or  memory  of  purely 
terrestrial  events  be  transmitted  directly 
through  the  mental  perceptions  of  the  brain 
— the  direct  recipient  of  the  impressions  of 
the  heart.  All  such  recollections  have  to  be 
first  stimulated  by  and  awakened  in  the  or¬ 
gans  which  were  the  originators,  as  already 
stated,  of  the  various  causes  that  led  to  the 
results,  or,  the  direct  recipients  and  partici¬ 
pators  of  the  latter.  In  other  words,  if 
what  is  called  “association  of  ideas”  has 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION 


161 


much  to  do  with  the  awakening  of  memory, 
the  mutual  interaction  and  consistent  inter¬ 
relation  between  the  personal  “Mind-En¬ 
tity”  and  the  organs  of  the  human  body 
have  far  more  so.  A  hungry  stomach  evokes 
the  vision  of  a  past  banquet,  because  its 
action  is  reflected  and  repeated  in  the  per¬ 
sonal  mind.  But  even  before  the  memory 
of  the  personal  Self  radiates  the  vision  from 
the  tablets  wherein  are  stored  the  experi¬ 
ences  of  one’s  daily  life — even  to  the  mi¬ 
nutest  details — the  memory  of  the  stomach 
has  already  evoked  the  same.  And  so  with 
all  the  organs  of  the  body.  It  is  they 
which  originate  according  to  their  animal 
needs  and  desires  the  electro-vital  sparks 
that  illuminate  the  field  of  consciousness  in 
the  Lower  Ego ;  and  it  is  these  sparks 
which  in  their  turn  awaken  to  function  the 
reminiscences  in  it.  The  whole  human 
body  is,  as  said,  a  vast  sounding  board,  in 
which  each  cell  bears  a  long  record  of  im¬ 
pressions  connected  with  its  parent  organ, 
and  each  cell  hajs  a  memory  and  a  conscious¬ 
ness  of  its  kind,  or  call  it  instinct  if  you 
will.  These  impressions  are,  according  to 


162 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


the  nature  of  the  organ,  physical,  psychic, 
or  mental,  as  they  relate  to  this  or  another 
plane.  They  may  be  called  “  states  of  con¬ 
sciousness”  only  for  the  want  of  a  better 
expression — as  there  are  states  of  instinct¬ 
ual,  mental,  and  purely  abstract,  or  spiritual 
consciousness.  If  we  trace  all  such  “psy¬ 
chic  ”  actions  to  brain-work,  it  is  only 
because  in  that  mansion  called  the  human 
body  the  brain  is  the  front-door,  and  the 
only  one  which  opens  out  into  Space.  All 
the  others  are  inner  doors,  openings  in  the 
private  building,  through  which  travel  inces¬ 
santly  the  transmitting  agents  of  memory 
and  sensation.  The  clearness,  the  vividness, 
and  intensity  of  these  depend  on  the  state 
of  health  and  the  organic  soundness  of  the 
transmitters.  But  their  reality,  in  the  sense 
of  trueness  or  correctness,  is  due  to  the 
“  principle  ”  they  originate  from,  and  the 
preponderance  in  the  Lower  Manas  of  the 
noetic  or  of  the  phrenic  ( “  Kama  ”,  terres¬ 
trial)  element. 

For,  as  Occultism  teaches,  if  the  Higher 
Mind-Entity — the  permanent  and  the  im¬ 
mortal — is  of  the  divine  homogeneous 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  163 


essence  of  “  Alaya-Akasa  or  Mahat — its 
reflection,  the  Personal  Mind,  is,  as  a  tempo¬ 
rary  “  Principle  ”,  of  the  Substance  of  the 
Astral  Light.  As  a  pure  ray  of  the  “  Son 
of  the  Universal  Mind”,  it  could  perform 
no  functions  in  the  body,  and  would  remain 
powerless  over  the  turbulent  organs  of  Mat¬ 
ter.  Thus,  while  its  inner  constitution  is 
Manasic,  its  “body”,  or  rather  functioning 
essence,  is  heterogeneous,  and  leavened  with 
the  Astral  Light,  the  lowest  element  of 
Ether.  It  is  a  part  of  the  mission  of  the 
Manasic  Ray,  to  get  gradually  rid  of  the 
blind,  deceptive  element  which,  though  it 
makes  of  it  an  active  spiritual  entity  on  this 
plane,  still  brings  it  into  so  close  contact 
with  matter  as  to  entirely  becloud  its  di¬ 
vine  nature  and  stultify  its  intuitions. 

This  leads  us  to  see  the  difference  be¬ 
tween  the  pure  noetic  and  the  terrestrial 
psychic  visions  of  seership  and  mediumship. 
The  former  can  be  obtained  by  one  of  two 
means;  (a)  on  the  condition  of  paralysing 
at  will  the  memory  and  the  instinctual,  inde¬ 
pendent  action  of  all  the  material  organs 

*  Another  name  for  the  universal  mind. 


164 


STUDIES  IX  OCCULTISM 


and  even  cells  in  the  body  of  flesh,  an  act 
which,  once  that  the  light  of  the  Higher 
Ego  has  consumed  and  subjected  for  ever 
the  passional  nature  of  the  personal,  lower 
Ego,  is  easy,  but  requires  an  adept;  and  ( b ) 
of  being  a  reincarnation  of  one,  who,  in  a 
previous  birth,  had  attained  through  ex¬ 
treme  purity  of  life  and  efforts  in  the  right 
direction  almost  to  a  To^’-state  of  holiness 
and  saintship.  There  is  also  a  third  possi¬ 
bility  of  reaching  in  mystic  visions  the 
plane  of  the  Higher  Manas;  but  it  is  only 
occasional  and  does  not  depend  on  the  will 
of  the  Seer,  but  on  the  extreme  weakness 
and  exhaustion  of  the  material  body  through 
illness  and  suffering.  The  Seeress  of  Pre- 
vorst  was  an  instance  of  the  latter  case; 
and  Jacob  Boehme  of  our  second  category. 
In  all  other  cases  of  abnormal  seership,  of 
so-called  clairaudience,  clairvoyance,  and 
trances,  it  is  simply — mediumship. 

Now  what  is  a  medium  ?  The  term  med¬ 
ium,  when  not  applied  simply  to  things  and 
objects,  is  supposed  to  be  a  person  through 
whom  the  action  of  another  person  or  being 
is  either  manifested  or  transmitted.  Spirit- 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  165 


ualists  believing  in  communications  with 
disembodied  spirits,  and  that  these  can 
manifest  through,  or  impress  sensitives  to 
transmit  “  messages  ”  from  them,  regard 
mediumship  as  a  blessing  and  a  great  privi¬ 
lege.  We  Theosophists,  on  the  other  hand, 
who  do  not  believe  in  the  “communion  of 
spirits  ”  as  Spiritualists  do,  regard  the  gift 
as  one  of  the  most  dangerous  of  abnormal 
nervous  diseases.  A  medium  is  simply  one 
in  whose  personal  Ego,  or  terrestrial  mind 
( jpsuche ),  the  percentage  of  “  astral  ”  light 
so  preponderates  as  to  impregnate  with  it 
his  whole  physical  constitution.  Every 
organ  and  cell  thereby  is  attuned,  so  to 
speak,  and  subjected  to  an  enormous  and  ab¬ 
normal  tension.  The  mind  is  ever  on  the 
plane  of,  and  quite  immersed  in,  that  de¬ 
ceptive  light  whose  soul  is  divine,  but  whose 
body — the  light  waves  on  the  lower  planes 
— infernal ;  for  they  are  but  the  black  and 
disfigured  reflections  of  the  earth’s  memo¬ 
ries.  The  untrained  eye  of  the  poor  sensi¬ 
tive  cannot  pierce  the  dark  mist,  the  dense 
fog  of  the  terrestrial  emanations,  to  see 
beyond  in  the  radiant  field  of  the  eternal 


166 


STUDIES  IX  OCCULTISM 


truths.  His  vision  is  out  of  focus.  His 
senses,  accustomed  from  his  birth,  like  those 
of  a  native  of  the  London  slums,  to  stench 
and  filth,  to  the  unnatural  distortions  of 
sights  and  images  tossed  on  the  kaleido¬ 
scopic  waves  of  the  astral  plane — are  un¬ 
able  to  discern  the  true  from  the  false. 
And  thus,  the  pale,  soulless  corpses  moving 
in  the  trackless  fields  of  “  Kama  Loka  ”,  ap¬ 
pear  to  him  the  living  images  of  the  “  dear 
departed  ”  ones ;  the  broken  echoes  of  once 
human  voices,  passing  through  his  mind, 
suggest  to  him  well  co-ordinated  phrases, 
which  he  repeats,  in  ignorance  that  their 
final  form  and  polish  were  received  in  the 
innermost  depths  of  his  own  brain  factory. 
And  hence  the  sight  and  the  hearing  of  that 
which  if  seen  in  its  true  nature  would  have 
struck  the  medium’s  heart  cold  with  horror, 
now  fills  him  with  a  sense  of  beatitude  and 
confidence.  He  really  believes  that  the  im¬ 
measurable  vistas  displayed  before  him  are 
the  real  spiritual  world,  the  abode  of  the 
blessed  disembodied  angels. 

We  describe  the  broad  main  features  and 
facts  of  mediumship,  there  being  no  room 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  167 


in  such  an  article  for  exceptional  cases. 
We  maintain — having  unfortunately  passed 
at  one  period  of  life  personally  through  such 
experiences — that  on  the  whole,  medium- 
ship  is  most  dangerous  ;  and  psychic  experi¬ 
ences,  when  accepted  indiscriminately,  lead 
only  to  honestly  deceiving  others,  because 
the  medium  is  the  first  self-deceived  victim. 
Moreover,  a  too  close  association  with  the 
“  Old  Terrestrial  Serpent  ”  is  infectious. 
The  odic  and  magnetic  currents  of  the  As¬ 
tral  Light  often  incite  to  murder,  drunk¬ 
enness,  immorality,  and,  as  Eliphas  Levi 
expresses  it,  the  not  altogether  pure  natures 
“  can  be  driven  headlong  by  the  blind  forces 
set  in  motion  in  the  Light  ” — by  the  errors 
and  sins  imposed  on  its  waves. 

And  this  is  how  the  great  Mage  of  the 
XIXth  century  corroborates  the  foregoing 
when  speaking  of  the  Astral  Light : — 

“We  have  said  that  to  acquire  magical  power, 
two  things  are  necessary ;  to  disengage  the  will 
from  all  servitude,  and  to  exercise  it  in  control. 

“The  sovereign  will  (of  the  adept)  is  repre¬ 
sented  in  our  symbols  by  the  woman  who  crushes 
the  serpent’s  head,  and  by  the  resplendent  angel 
who  represses  the  dragon  and  holds  him  under 


168 


STUDIES  IX  OCCULTISM 


his  foot  and  spear ;  the  great  magical  agent,  the 
dual  current  of  light,  the  living  and  astral  fire  of 
the  earth,  has  been  represented  in  the  ancient 
theogonies  by  the  serpent  with  the  head  of  a 
bull,  a  ram,  or  a  dog.  It  is  the  double  serpent  of 
the  caduceus ,  it  is  the  Old  Serpent  of  Genesis , 
but  it  is  also  the  brazen  serpent  of  Moses  entwined 
around  the  tau ,  that  is  to  say,  the  generative 
lingha.  It  is  also  the  goat  of  the  witch-sabbath, 
and  the  Baphomet  of  the  Templars;  it  is  the 
Hyle  of  the  Gnostics ;  it  is  the  double-tailed  ser¬ 
pent  which  forms  the  legs  of  the  solar  clock  of 
the  Abraxas ;  finally  it  is  the  Devil  of  M.  Eudel 
de  Mirville.  But  in  very  fact  it  is  the  blind  force 
which  souls  (i.e.,  the  lower  Manas  or  Nephesh) 
have  to  conquer  to  liberate  themselves  from  the 
bonds  of  the  earth ;  for  if  their  will  does  not  free 
*  them  from  this  fatal  attraction,  they  will  be  ab¬ 
sorbed  in  the  current  by  the  force  which  has 
produced  them,  and  will  return  to  the  central  and 
eternal  fire  V’  * 

The  “  central  and  eternal  fire  ”  is  that 
disintegrating  Force,  that  gradually  con¬ 
sumes  and  burns  out  the  Kama  Rapa,  or 
“  personality  ”,  in  the  Kama  Loka,  whither 
it  goes  after  death.  And  verily,  the  Med¬ 
iums  are  attracted  by  the  Astral  Light,  it  is 

*Dogme  et  Rituel  de  la  Haute  Magie ,  quoted  in  Isis 
Unveiled. 


PSYCHIC  AND  NOETIC  ACTION  169 


the  direct  cause  of  their  personal  u  souls  ” 
being  absorbed  “by  the  force  which  has 
produced  ”  their  terrestrial  elements.  And, 
therefore,  as  the  same  Occultist  tells  us : — 

“All  the  magical  operations  consist  in  freeing 
one’s  self  from  the  coils  of  the  Ancient  Serpent; 
then  to  place  the  foot  on  its  head,  and  lead  it 
according  to  the  operator’s  will.  4  I  will  give 
unto  thee’,  says  the  Serpent,  in  the  Gospel  myth, 
4  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  if  thou  wilt  fall 
down  and  worship  me’.  The  initiated  should 
reply  to  him,  4 1  will  not  fall  down,  but  thou 
shalt  crouch  at  my  feet;  thou  wilt  give  me 
nothing,  but  I  will  make  use  of  thee  and 
take  whatever  I  wish.  For  I  am  thy  Lord  and 
Master!  ’  ” 

And  as  such,  the  Personal  JSffo,  becoming 
at  one  with  its  divine  parent,  shares  in  the 
immortality  of  the  latter.  Otherwise  .... 

Enough,  however.  Blessed  is  he  who  has 
acquainted  himself  with  the  dual  powers  at 
work  in  the  Astral  Light;  thrice  blessed 
he  who  has  learned  to  discern  the  Noetic 
from  the  Psychic  action  of  the  “Double- 
Faced  ”  God  in  him,  and  who  knows 
the  potency  of  his  own  Spirit — or  “Soul 
Dynamics  ”. 


THE  THEOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY 
IN  AMERICA. 

INFORMATION  FOR  ENQUIRERS. 

The  principal  aim  and  object  of  this  Society  is 
to  form  a  nucleus  of  Universal  Brotherhood 
without  any  distinction  whatever.  The  subsid¬ 
iary  objects  are ;  the  study  of  ancient  and  mod¬ 
ern  Religions,  Philosophies,  and  Sciences,  and 
the  demonstration  of  the  importance  of  such 
study ;  and  the  investigation  of  the  unexplained 
laws  of  nature  and  the  psychical  powers  latent 
in  man. 

This  Society  is  an  integral  part  of  the  inter¬ 
national  Theosophical  Movement  which  began 
at  New  York  in  the  year  1875. 

Any  person  declaring  sympathy  with  the  first 
object  of  the  Society  may  be  admitted  to  mem¬ 
bership,  as  provided  in  the  By-laws. 


2 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


Every  member  lias  tlie  right  to  believe  or  dis¬ 
believe  in  any  religious  system  or  philosophy, 
and  to  declare  such  belief  or  disbelief,  without 
affecting  his  standing  as  a  member  of  the  Soci¬ 
ety,  each  being  required  to  show  that  tolerance 
of  the  opinions  of  others  which  he  expects  for 
his  own. 

Five  or  more  persons  applying  in  writing  to 
the  President,  and  complying  with  conditions  of 
membership,  or  who  are  already  members,  may 
receive  a  Charter  to  form  a  Branch,  with  con¬ 
sent  of  the  Executive  Committee ;  and  the  num¬ 
ber  of  Branches  which  may  be  formed  at  any 
place  is  not  limited. 

Members  not  belonging  to  Branches  are  known 
as  Members-at-large. 

Each  Branch  may  make  its  own  By-laws  and 
manage  its  own  local  affairs  in  any  manner  con¬ 
sistent  with  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution. 

The  Society  does  not  pretend  to  be  able  to 
establish  at  once  a  universal  brotherhood  among 
men,  but  only  strives  to  create  a  nucleus  for 
such  a  body,  and  believes  that  a  careful  study 
of  the  religions  and  philosophies  of  the  past 
as  well  as  of  the  present  day  will  reveal  the 
common  basis  upon  which  all  rest,  and  there¬ 
fore  the  truth  underlying  them  all.  The  or¬ 
ganization  is,  therefore,  wholly  unsectarian, 
with  no  creed  or  dogma  to  enforce  or  impose. 

Hence  in  its  ranks,  and  co-operating  in  its 
work,  are  to  be  found  professors  of  every  faith, 


APPENDIX 


3 


as  well  as  those  who  have  none  whatever.  No 
restriction  is  placed  on  its  members  save  that 
of  loyalty  to  its  one  fundamental  principle — 
Universal  Brotherhood.  Nor  is  it,  as  a  Soci¬ 
ety,  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  opinions 
of  its  members,  who  all  have  a  right  to  hold 
their  own  views  and  to  receive  for  them,  from 
their  fellow-members,  the  respect  which  they 
in  turn  should  show  for  the  views  of  others. 
This  toleration  and  respect  is  asked  from  all 
members  as  a  duty,  since  it  is  believed  that 
dogmatism  and  intolerance  have  always  been 
the  greatest  foes  to  human  progress.  The  So¬ 
ciety  therefore  represents  all  creeds  and  all 
branches  of  science,  opposing  bigotry,  super¬ 
stition,  credulity,  and  dogmatism  wherever 
found,  and  by  whomsoever  taught.  It  asks  of 
its  members  an  unflinching  condemnation  of 
vice  in  every  form,  and  of  all  that  tends  to 
feed  or  propagate  it,  and  expects  every  one 
who  joins  its  ranks  to  avoid  doing  what  will 
be  likely  to  throw  discredit  upon  the  Society  or 
dishonor  upon  his  fellow-members. 


4 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


THEOSOPHY . 


The  mystical  system  which  gives  its  name  to 
the  Society,  and  is  vaguely  known  under  the 
general  title  “Theosophy”,  is  put  forward  by 
certain  members  as  at  once  the  result  of,  and 
an  incentive  to  that  particular  line  of  study 
described  in  the  “subsidiary  objects”.  They 
believe  that  the  doctrines,  or  leading  ideas  of 
Theosophy,  both  Eastern  and  Western,  are  es¬ 
pecially  worthy  of  attention  at  the  present  time, 
as  suggesting  the  probable  solution  of  many  of 
the  most  vexed  religious,  social,  and  scientific 
questions  of  the  day.  An  extensive  literature 
has  sprung  up  in  connection  with  the  Theosoph- 
ical  Movement,  in  which  many  of  these  ideas 
are  explained  and  discussed. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  these 
doctrines  *  are  not  advanced  as  dogmas,  but 
merely  as  reasonable  hypotheses,  throwing 
light  upon  many  phases  and  conditions  of  life 
which  otherwise  appear  incomprehensible  or 
inconsistent.  The  Theosophical  Society  aims 
at  assisting  its  members  by  the  spread  of  lit¬ 
erature  and  by  all  other  methods  within  its 
power,  in  their  searchings  after  truth,  and,  as 
above  said,  it  places  no  restrictions  upon  its 
members  beyond  that  of  loyalty  to  its  one 
fundamental  principle  of  thought  and  action — 


APPENDIX 


5 


Universal  Brotherhood.  It  may,  however,  be 
stated  that  the  majority  of  the  members,  as 
individuals,  believe  that  the  realization  of  this 
first  object  of  the  Theosophical  Society  can 
best  be  attained  by  a  thorough  grasp  of  the 
principles  of  Theosophy,  which,  in  their  opinion, 
place  universal  brotherhood  on  a  scientific  and 
logical  basis. 


Further  information  may  be  had  on  applica¬ 
tion  to  William  Q.  Judge,  President  of  the 
Theosophical  Society  in  America,  144  Madison 
Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  or  N.  E.  Theosophical 
Corporation,  24  Mt.  Yernon  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


LIST  OF  BOOKS, 


Which  may  be  obtained  post-paid  from  the 
New  England  Theosophical  Corporation, 
24  Mt.  Yernon  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

Experience  indicates  the  following  as  a  good 
series  of  books  in  a  preliminary  course:  1st, 
Wilkesbarre  Letters  on  Theosophy;  2d,  Simple 
Theosophy;  3d,  Modern  Theosophy ;  4th,  Ocean 
of  Theosophy;  5th,  Occult  World;  6th,  Echoes 
from  the  Orient ;  7th,  Esoteric  Buddhism;  8th, 


0 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


Seven  Principles  of  Man,  Besant ;  9th,  Reincar¬ 
nation,  Besant ;  10th,  Death — and  After,  Besant; 
11th,  Key  to  Theosophy ;  12th,  Letters  that  have 
Helped  Me. 

The  following  are  for  deeper  study :  1st,  Patan- 
jali’s  Yoga  Aphorisms;  2d,  Magic,  White  and 
Black;  3d,  Isis  Unveiled;  4tli,  The  Secret 
Doctrine. 

Of  devotional  works :  1st,  Voice  of  the  Silence; 
2d,  Bhagavad-Gita ;  3d,  Light  on  the  Path. 


Bhagavad-Gita,  American  Edition.  Judge  1.00 

“  “  Mohini’s  translation  and 

notes .  2.00 

Bhagavad-Gita,  Discourses  on  the.  Subba 

Row . 75 

Blavatsky,  Madame,  Incidents  in  the  life 

of.  Sinnett .  3.00 

Blavatsky,  Madame,  Memorial  Articles  on  .35 

Compendium  of  Raja-Yoga  Philosophy -  1.25 

Death — and  After  ?  Theosophical  Manual 

No.  3.  Besant . 35 

Discourses  on  the  Bhagavad-Gita.  Subba 

Row . 75 

Echoes  From  the  Orient.  Judge . 50 

Esoteric  Buddhism.  Sinnett. . .  .paper  50c. 

“  “  “  cloth  1.25 

Esoteric  Basis  of  Christianity.  Kingsland. 

Parti,  .10;  Part  2 . 10 


APPENDIX 


7 


Evolution  According  to  Theosophy.  Hil¬ 
lard . 10 

Exposition  of  Theosophy.  Besant . 10 

Five  Years  of  Theosophy .  3.25 

Gems  from  the  East;  a  Birtli-day  Book. 

Blavatsky .  1.00 

Glossary,  Theosophical.  Blavatsky .  3.50 

Glossary,  Working,  for  Theosophical  Stu¬ 
dents . cloth  .50 

Guide  to  Theosophy.  (Printed  in  India.). .  1.50 

Hints  on  Esoteric  Theosophy,  and  Idyll  of 

the  White  Lotus,  paper,  50c;  cloth...  1.25 

Idea  of  Rebirth.  Arundale .  1.25 

Idyll  of  the  White  Lotus,  and  Hints  on  Es¬ 
oteric  Theosophy;  paper,  50;  cloth .  1.25 

Indianapolis  Letters  on  Theosophy.  Ful¬ 
lerton . 10 

In  Defense  of  Theosophy.  Besant . 08 

Isis  Unveiled.  Blavatsky .  7.50 

Karma.  Sinnett;  cloth . 75 

Key  to  Theosophy.  Blavatsky .  1.50 

Letters  that  have  Helped  Me . 50 

Light  on  the  Path,  with  Comments  from 

Lucifer,  paper,  .25 ;  cloth . 40 

Magic,  White  and  Black.  Hartmann . 

paper,  50c;  cloth .  1.25 

Man;  Fragments  of  Forgotten  History .  1.25 

Modern  Theosophy,  Outline  of  the  Prin¬ 
ciples  of.  Claude  Falls  Wright . 

paper,  50c;  cloth .  1.00 

My  Books.  Blavatsky . 05 


8 


STUDIES  IN  OCCULTISM 


Mystic  Quest.  Kingsland .  1.00 

Nature  and  Aim  of  Theosophy.  Buck . 75 

Nature’s  Finer  Forces.  Kama  Prasad .  1.50 

Neila  Sen,  and  My  Casual  Death,  Connelly 

paper,  50c;  cloth .  1.25 

Nightmare  Tales.  Blavatsky . 

paper,  35c;  cloth . 75 

Ocean  of  Theosophy.  Judge;  paper,  50c; 

cloth .  1.00 

Occult  World.  Sinnett;  paper  50c;  cloth..  1.25 
Patanjali’s  Yoga  Aphorisms.  (American 

ed.)  red  leather,  75c;  morocco .  1.00 

Place  of  Peace,  The.  Besant . 15 

Purpose  of  Theosophy.  Mrs.  Sinnett.  paper  .15 
Kaja  Yoga  Philosophy,  Compendium  of  . . .  1.25 

Reincarnation.  Anderson,  paper,  50c ;  cloth  1.00 
Reincarnation.  Theosophical  Manual  No.  2. 

Besant . 35 

Reincarnation.  E.  D.  Walker . 

paper,  50c;  cloth .  1.25 

Reminiscences  of  H.  P.  B.  and  the  Secret 

Doctrine.  Countess  Wachtmeister - 

paper,  50;  cloth . 75 

Rough  Outline  of  Theosophy.  Besant . 10 

Sankhya  Karika,  (with  commentary) .  1.25 

Secret  Doctrine.  Blavatsky .  12.50 

Seven  Principles  of  Man.  Theosophical 

Manual  No.  1.  Besant . 35 

Simon  Magus.  Mead. .  .paper,  $1.75;  cloth  2.25 

Simple  Theosophy.  Barnett;  paper . 15 

Songs  of  the  Lotus  Circle . 05 


APPENDIX 


9 


Sphinx  of  Theosophy.  Besant . 10 

Study  of  Man.  Buck .  2.50 

Theosophical  Glossary.  Blavatsky .  3.50 

Theosophical  Society  and  H.  P.  B.  Besant 

and  Patterson . 07 

Theosophy,  or  Psychological  Religion.  Max 

Muller .  3.00 

Theosophy,  Religion,  and  Occult  Science. 

Olcott .  2.50 

Theosophy  and  its  Evidences.  Besant . 10 

Theosophy  Simply  Put;  paper . 10 

Topics  in  Karma.  Fullerton . 15 

Topics  in  Reincarnation.  Fullerton . .  .10 

Transactions  Blavatsky  Lodge . 

paper,  No.  1,  50c;  No.  2 . 35 

Transactions  London  Lodge,  No.  17.  .paper  .35 
Voice  of  the  Silence.  Blavatsky;  red 

leather,  .75;  morocco .  1.00 

Why  I  became  a  Theosophist.  Besant . 10 

Wilkesbarre  Letters  on  Theosophy.  Ful¬ 
lerton . 10 

Wonder-Light,  and  Other  Tales  for  Chil¬ 
dren.  Ver  Plank . 50 

Working  Glossary  for  Theosophical  Stu¬ 
dents;  cloth . 50 

Yoga  Aphorisms  of  Patanjali  (American 

edition)  red  leather,  .75;  morocco....  1.00 
Yoga  Sutra  of  Patanjali.  Dvivedi.  .boards  1.00 

j 


